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Good morning!
On the lap turns, I think she is reading them well. You can edit the video less so I can see how the rep starts when dong the one jump reps – the lap turn was a little awkward at first probably because she was starting too close and had to wait for you to show the cue? And for the reward, try not to reward in front of you – instead, if the toy is in the outside arm you can throw it so she drives out of the lap turn or you can have The cookie or toy in the turn hand too deliver or throw.
When you add the rocking horses/2 wings, try sending to the wing further so you are not running backwards more than one step and so you can be set in the lap turn spot. I think that was what was making it a title harder for her to read it (she was good about waiting for where to be while you ran backwards LOL! But we really don’t want you to run backwards, she is too fast for that so the sending will be your friend here 🙂
And being relatively stationary to cue the turn will help her learn to love to drive into you without needing motion, which is a SUPER skill for baby Border Collies 🙂Lateral lead outs – her commitment looked FABULOUS and so did her turns! YAY! That allows you to work on other details.
>> My issue was trying to keep straight which arm I was supposed to use (I did watch the video again and then I get outside and can’t remember anything).
Part of this stage of training is developing your own system of communication with her. In general, when you are on the takeoff side of 1 (landing side of 2), using the dog-side arm makes more sense. When you are on the landing side of 1 (takeoff side of 2), using the dog-side arm still makes sense, but also for many dogs it is fine to be rotated and use your opposite arm (almost like an old school ‘recall to heel’ except positionally you are further over. I think it depends on what would happen on jump 2: for a throw back, I would do the dog-side arm for the send and throwback, like you did here. For a front cross and run 1-2, using the opposite arm with you already rotated totally works, because it is like already being halfway through the FC 🙂
Her commitment is strong enough that you should show her ALL the things and then you gave a gigantic toolbox to pull from,
The one thing I would add on all of these, though, is more connection before the release. You were looking forward (probably thinking about what you were going to do) so she was looking at you. Ideally, she would focus forward a little more – the connection will get that (plus it stabilizes the start line). When we connect to the dog, they tend to look forward better. When we are not connected, they look at us.
>> I think some of my problem was the toy and trying to hold it in my throwing hand. When I did the throwback at the end, the hands made more sense… >>
The toy can be in either hand, and it is good for her to get used to your hands carrying a toy and she ignore them til you mark that it is time to grab them.
You can add a little more distance on these as you get your hands more comfy!
Great job! Let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! I am glad you are feeling better and also – look at all that green grass! YAY!
On the lap turns:
Remember the 3 inch rule 🙂 That is keeping your feet together and your magic cookie hand extended towards him as he is coming towards you, til he is 3 inches or less from your hand. Then the leg goes back and the arm moves with it, drawing him back first then turning him away. You were too early on these, starting it when he was a couple of feet from your hand. What happens when you are too early (especially with the leg movement) is that your leg gets stuck back so he doesn’t know what to do like at :46, or he reads it as a throwback to the other side of the wing at :57. So I try to stand totally still until he is very close, then it will be easier (standing still is HARD! LOL!) If you end up running backwards to the position, no worries – you can keep moving backwards til he is 3 inches from your hand, or stop in position til he is 3 inches from your hand. Eventually you will be able to send him away to the other wing, so you won’t have to run backwards 🙂Tandems looked good! He likes the motion a LOT and the timing can be earlier, so he read them really well. YAY!
>> I think this was pretty good considering it was VERY HARD to keep him from being too distracted outside.
Part of it is that he is really inexperienced working outdoors, so you can do the high motion, super easy games. And use a crazy toy or ball. If you use food, feed from your hands from now – throwing treats in the grass was making him a bit sniffy because they added smells and if he didn’t know what to do, he would sniff around a bit.
The backside video was the same link as the lap turn/tandem video – let me know what you repost it, I am looking forward to seeing it!
TracyHi!
This was a really interesting series of sessions! At first she TOTALLY thought you were insane and it was stooopid. And it was really cool to see you make it easier, reward a lot, and build it up – and note how she got faster and faster! YES!
>>< I know I was facing the wrong way I realize now. On those moments: It was not so much facing the wrong way, as it was using alternate styles of handling. And that is all good. In fact, when you had the 2 jumps with you on the landing side of jump 1, she totally preferred when you used your outside arm/step to landing, and didn’t like the dog side arm/step to take off. And that is fine, because basically you and she are developing your own system of communication. I really only have one idea for you (you sorted it all out on your own, pretty much LOL!) - you can have a food bowl placed on the landing side of the 1st jump, tucked into the wing closer to you - so she has a visual target and looks at you less. And then you can toss the reward into the food bowl as you build these up to add even more distance. I am really happy with how her speed developed here and I know she will continue to get faster and faster - great job breaking it down to help her out! SUPER!!!! Tracy
Hi!
>> This was my leash in pocket solution since I can’t wear a jacket at 90° running. I figured since people can wear their Hurrta training vest, why can’t I wear a training skirt?>>
Excellent point!
>>We are showing again today. Hoping it will be more low key because it’s the end of the trial and most people leave.>>
The environment can be lower key, but you can be higher key from the entry gate to the start jump 🙂
>>I probably can get a bigger lead out, I’m just not good at those because Callie doesn’t have one so I feel like getting to the landing side is SOOOO FAR 🤣. I watched the video and was like oh it took one step past the landing side>>
Yes! Work a little bit more lead out in! Have fun and keep me posted 🙂
TracyGood morning!
Sorry for the delay, I am at a trial and these videos didn’t want to load for some unknown reason. I finally convinced them LOL!!!He did well here – considering it was a challenging environment, try to engage him more on the way to the line in both runs. You were quiet, you were looking forward, so he was looking around a bit. You can do your fancy heeling! And definitely you can talk to him and jog to the line. All of that is to get him more stimulated and looking around less.
If there is an FEO option in the other runs, definitely take it so you can, yes, reward weaves and teeters for example – but mainly so that you can just play and getting him looking at you and obstacles more, and ignore the outside the ring more too. That will help him ‘see’ the jumps that he is running near & past, and not go around them. The more he get ring experience and play in the ring, and the more stimulated you can get him on the start line, the better he will pick up the lines.
You were very chill on the start line and that makes me chuckle – it might be the only place you are chill hahahah! For that movement from the entry gate to the start line, you are traded from Team Chill and acquired by Team CrayCray 🙂
You did a great job staying connected and keeping him moving! Yes, don’t say table, just run at it and point at it. LOL! Tables are annoying LOL!
Great job! How are your runs today?
TracyShe looks wonderful!! I think Nanny Jamie looks more uncomfortable than Roulez did hahahaha Yay! Don’t let her twitching on the start line cause you to twitching- on that first lead out, she twitched so you stopped for a moment. Just keep running away like you did on the 2nd lead out. It is her choice to settle & stay… or break. Breaking gets a stop in the action, staying gets the release! The 2nd lead out was perfection 🥰 and so was the run. Let me know how the rest of the day goes!
TracyWow, she looks great! Who is the judge? I love the spacing on this course.
I think the main priority now is the car travel issue, following by helping her be more resilient when something goes wrong (like scary yelling men). The agility looks wonderful 🙂 the behaviorist should have amazing info about the car and sep anx. One of my colleagues here is a dog trainer/agility competitor who also works for Behavior Vets, so I can hook you up with her if you want.
In the meantime, on the Agility side of things, keep playing these games and building on them. Keep her in the Step 1 FEO with the toy for now, til the other stuff starts getting more sorted out, then we can move to the next steps 🙂
Great job!
TracyI think the best way to do it is to mirror what the NFC runs would be – start with cookies visible in your hands (or a toy). When he has several successful sessions of that, go to cookies or toys hidden in your pockets. Then if that is good for a few sessions… onwards to nothing in your hands or pockets and a reward station outside the ring.
THi!
>>
You’ve given me a lot to think about and digest. I will need to read and re-read your feedback….something I just do.On using my turn in class to work the environment….. would I take the games to the middle of the course and work them near, but far from what might trigger her? So far, I work the games on the perimeter while waiting my turn or take the games near a person that she might trigger on…Like when I tug with Posh close to a judge in the morning of a trial. Take those games etc into the middle of the course/equipment as my turn? I’m trying to grasp what that might look like. Can you give me an example, please?>>
Yes, pretty much as you have described. She reacts to the ‘judge’ sometimes, or the ring crew… so you would go into the ring and play the pattern game (for example) about 10 feet from the judge until she is no longer looking at the judge. Or if there are spectators with their dogs outside the perimeter of the course, do the games from inside the ring. These are basically Kryptonite games, played inside the ring to tackle the distractions she will only experience inside the ring.
Control the environment by having her on leash, so she can’t leave to bark and so you can control the distance away from the distraction.The games can be any/all of the pattern games, volume dial, off leash offered engagement, remote reinforcement, etc. You can choose a game to start with (I always choose pattern games to start) and work from there.
If the distraction is quickly overcome, you can then do part of the sequence. If you turn is 3 minutes long, for example, spend the first minute doing the game inside the ring. And then if she looks engaged and there are no surprise distractions? You can try a bit of the sequence (that is something to plan with your instructor in advance).
And if you have a sequence planned and then suddenly a new distraction pops up? Switch gears 🙂 Tackling the distraction as top priority will make a big difference in the long term.
You have been working these outside the ring and things are going well! The environment and context inside the ring are pretty different and she still has questions in that context, so the class or training environment is a perfect place to work that.
let me know what you think!
TracyGood morning! It looked crazy windy on the video (and cold!). It was smart to skip the actual run – too many factors working against guaranteeing a great time in the ring.
She did well on the video here! For the pattern game stuff in the beginning, you were mixing in tricks too – I think, for her, you can start with a pure pattern game in a new environment: the toss the cookie, wait for offered engagement, toss the next one (or drop on shoe like you were doing here). She was having some trouble with the grass and sights/smells/sounds, so it would help her to let her be in lower arousal so she can moderate her own internal arousal.
The tricks bring her into higher arousal, which is us helping her (which is useful for sure) but the bedrock is her helping herself 🙂 with the pattern games – and the lower arousal is where we want her for those so she can work through the state she might find herself in during her run or at the start line. Let me know if that makes sense or if I need more coffee 🙂
And then when she is very engaged, you can do the tricks (she does those really well!) My only suggestion on those is to move away from her more than towards her – you were doing some backing up and moving towards her, but she prefers when yo move away (it puts her into a higher state of arousal).
The other thing you can do outside the ring is show her where your reward station is and do a tiny bit of remote reinforcement! I do this now with all 3 of my young dogs, even if it is just 20 seconds of it. They are all fully aware of where to go at the end of the run but appear undistracted and engaged during the run, so something must be making sense to them LOL!
Her pivoting looked really good! That is a fun game to play when there is a lot of activity around 🙂 One small suggestion is to let her offer before your hand goes to your pocket. She was not offering until after your hand moved to the cookie pocket… then she was on board. So be careful to not tip her off with cookie hand movement 🙂 If she can’t “see” the pivot prop, then you can move her a bit further away from the distractions to see where her threshold is.
Great job! Keep me posted about how today goes!
TracyYEs, the weather has been a pain lately! Hopefully you get a stretch of good weather so you can have some fun in classes.
A fun evening makes everything so much better 🙂 Today will be about finding ways to help Promise be comfortable at the trial 🙂 Keep me posted!
Hi! He was on fire, so fast!!! I think the weaves might have been an unfamiliar color but also they were right up against the ring gating, which might have been distracting.
He definitely enjoyed checking out the ring crew and judge! Do you have folks who can come to class or ring rental to act a as ring crew, so you can reward him for ignoring them? I think that was the hardest part for him 🙂 Everything else looked really good and he was so fast! Nice work!!
TracyHi!
The tunnel threadles are going well! After the first rep, you got your feet moving forward to the threadle end of the tunnel and she did well! You can move even more directly to that tunnel entry: your feet will go right towards it and your upper body will do the threadle cue with the arm. Overall, she seems to be reading the cue and listening to the verbals. YAY! And the Front cross threadle cue was funny LOL! You can add more motion on these, building up to being able to run run run the whole time.>> I think that I really want to walk backwards which of course won’t work when running…lol
Correct! She is too fast for you to be walking backwards LOL!
Backsides are generally going well too! She did best when you had really strong connection (like video 1 at :47) and when you were moving faster (like the first video a :58 – that motion plus that connection looked great!
>> When looking at the video I see Fritzi gets confused when I switch up my shoulder rotation to throw toy as she comes over the bar after the backside. I really need to be conscious of my turn from now on. She gets it, but in the next few reps I see she’s uncertain about coming over the bar. What do you think?>>
I think what was happening on both backside videos was that she was watching your hands for the toy to move and for you to cue the bar. Since we want her to do the bar on her own, we can change the timing and placement of the reinforcement to help her out: Have the toy in your dog side hand and as soon as you think she is going to go to the backside, drop the toy behind you and closer to the entry wing as you move away. That way the toy gets in earlier and she learns to look for the bar and not at you.
Also, you can use a ‘shifting’ connection to help her out on both the regular backsides and on the Countermotion exits: as you pass the landing side, shift your eyes from looking at her eyes to looking at the landing spot. And on the countermotion, you can use your dog-size hand to point to the landing as you look at it.
Good motion at :58FC on landing side looked great
So for example, on the 2nd video as you were working the countermotion exits: Keep moving while she is in the stay, to get past the wing then release while you are on takeoff side, When you release, shift your connection to the landing spot and point behind you. That will help her move ot the jumps and not towards you. Then toss the reward to the landing spot too!
Nice work here! Let me know if that makes sense 🙂
Tracy215 on video 2 needed more connection
